Esbjorn Svensson Trio

Some people would rather forget 2008. The jazz fan, however, has definite cause to look back fondly at the year that was. As such, here are my picks for the top 10 jazz recordings of 2008:

1, “Miles From India,” Miles From India (Four Quarters)

The brainchild of Grammy Award-winning composer-arranger Bob Belden, “Miles From India” is a brilliant cross-cultural exploration of the music of Miles Davis. It features more than 30 musicians, drawn equally from the world of Indian classical music and the long list of former Davis sidemen, yet the huge ensemble moves with strikingly singular purpose. Utilizing both tabla and trumpet, sitar and soprano sax, the players weave together jazz, rock and world music so fluidly that the only apt description is “fusion,” a kind that that put this album “Miles” ahead of the competition last year.

2, “Live,” Brad Mehldau Trio (Nonesuch)

As long as Mehldau keeps putting out records, I really only have to worry about coming up with nine selections for my annual top 10 list. That’s because, for my money, the pianist is the most consistently impressive musician in jazz and his records always rank among the finest of the year. It’s the same story with “Live,” a thoroughly entertaining two-disc concert set that features a ravishing mix of originals, standards and modern pop tunes. What the trio accomplishes with the latter is particularly astounding: Believe it or not, Mehldau’s version of Soundgarden’s grunge-rock classic “Black Hole Sun” is one of the best jazz recordings I heard in 2008.

3, “Invisible Baby,” Marco Benevento (Hyena)

I’ve liked everything I’ve heard by this 31-year-old keyboardist. He’s currently best known for his superb work with drummer Joe Russo in the duo Benevento/Russo, but his solo career is really starting to take off as well. He follows 2007’s excellent concert offering “Live at Tonic” with this assured, mature studio debut. The eight-song set is modern and experimental, yet still accessible, and should appeal to both city-slick jazz hipsters and Radiohead fans.

4, “Blue Crescent,” Dr. Michael White (Basin Street)

White, a man who ranks as nothing less than a national treasure, offers up another enjoyable history lesson. The sensational clarinetist and his crackerjack band, featuring Nicholas Payton on trumpet, handle a winning assortment of blues, hymns, dirges and dance-hall numbers and draw from a variety of styles, from 1920s jazz and brass-band music to New Orleans revival-style jazz and Caribbean folk music. The collection features a dozen original tunes, which is roughly 12 more than you’d find on most “traditional” jazz albums recorded in recent years, as well as the standards “St. Louis Blues” and “Will the Circle Be Unbroken.”

5, “Beyond Standard,” Hiromi’s Sonicbloom (Telarc)

Hiromi Uehara is amazing in concert, an absolute fireball of energy, passion and ambition that can light up a jazz club like few others. Unfortunately, the young pianist’s work in the recording studio has rarely lived up to her efforts onstage. That’s not the case with “Beyond Standard.” What this fusion champ is able to do with “Caravan” and “My Favorite Things,” as well as other songs we’ve all heard a thousand times before, is breathtaking.

6, “Twilight World,” Marian McPartland (Concord)

The piano goddess has been in the jazz game for more than 70 years, which is an amazing enough feat. That McPartland, who turns 91 this year, can still conjure up a batch of tunes as lovely as what’s found on “Twilight World” is downright astonishing.

7, “Let It Come to You,” Taylor Eigsti (Concord)

There may come a day, and it could be right around the corner, when I tell someone that I used to live in Menlo Park and the person responds with “Oh, Menlo Park, that’s where Taylor Eigsti is from.” The already great story of this 24-year-old pianist-composer continues to blossom, thanks in large part to his sensational sophomore major-label release.

8, “Guitars,” McCoy Tyner (Half Note)

The legendary pianist teams with some of the genre’s best guitarists, including Bill Frisell and Marc Ribot, as well as the stellar rhythm section of bassist Ron Carter and drummer Jack DeJohnette on this fine set. What’s ironic, given the album title, is that the best numbers find Tyner, Carter and DeJohnette collaborating with banjo man Bela Fleck.

9, “Leucocyte,” Esbjorn Svensson Trio (Spamboolimbo)

On June 14, Svensson died in a tragic diving accident in Sweden. He was 44. Just how much the jazz world will miss the pianist is made plainly clear on this forward-thinking trio record.

10, “You Don’t Know Jacq,” Jacqui Naylor (Ruby Star)

The San Francisco-based artist, perhaps the greatest vocal treasure among the embarrassment of riches to be found in the Bay Area scene, delivers another winner. Her specialty is translating modern pop songs into jazz-speak, something she accomplishes remarkably well with R.E.M.’s “Losing My Religion” and other familiar numbers this time around.